Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Less is More, Part 1: Letting the Visuals Move the Narrative

So
everything was set up now and it was past time to get moving. While I deliberately
over wrote most of the narration and dialogue for both stories to date to give them
a pulpy feel, I thought it was time to step back and let the images carry the
narrative as we shift to Carlos' portion of the story. It's a great
introduction as we get our first look at an institutionalized Carlos. Matt's
red color scheme was a brilliant. It's like the room is Carlos' own personal
hell. Matt's been critical of his coloring in his commentaries, but I like it a
lot. The cool purple-ish grays and sickly greens in the hall sequences contrast
nicely with the nightmare reds and oranges of the patient rooms. Originally
scripted as only six panels, Matt added in two more. The first view of Carlos'
face was added in and gives us insight as to how he was feeling before the
"Demon's Eye" bracelet is activated. The bracelet as we see it here is
not much more than a curiosity. We don't explain until later what it is, but clearly it either gives Carlos his powers back or does something to the bars
to make him think his powers are back. My last scripted panel, Matt wisely
split into two panels. By giving us an extra panel that zoomed in on Carlos'
face, he really heightened the impact.